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Fort Stewart to lose almost 1,400 troops as Army restructures

Fort Stewart will lose nearly 1,400 troops over the next four years as the Army restructures its forces, according to a plan announced by senior Army officials Tuesday.

The coastal Georgia installation is among 10 domestic posts that will lose a brigade combat team by the end of fiscal year 2017 as the Army’s budget shrinks and its roles in two long, foreign wars near an end, Army Chief of Staff Gen. Raymond Odierno said.

Although the 3rd Infantry Division’s 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team will be deactivated sometime before the end of 2017, according to the plan, many of the unit’s about 3,700 positions will be reassigned within the division’s remaining three brigade combat teams — two based at Fort Stewart and another at Fort Benning.

Nearby Hunter Army Airfield, considered an extension of Fort Stewart, will not be directly impacted by the plan announced Tuesday.

Installation officials could not say exactly when the 2nd Brigade — portions of which are currently deployed to Afghanistan — will be deactivated, but Fort Stewart spokesman Kevin Larson said it won’t be right away.

“Nothing changes in the immediate future. We’ll continue with our reset efforts, and we look forward to our troops returning from their deployment to Afghanistan,” Larson said. “Our division will work with Forces Command, who will provide guidance and resources for the restructuring and reorganization.”

The addition of an armor or infantry battalion — usually about 600 to 800 soldiers — and other elements to both of the remaining brigade combat teams at Fort Stewart, will help offset the loss of 2nd Brigade.

Larson said Fort Stewart will gain a fires brigade headquarters, a Gray Eagle drone company, a civil affairs battalion, a heavy transport company, and a chemical maintenance company in the future.

Although he called the announced plan “a disappointment,” U.S. Rep. Jack Kingston, who represents Georgia’s first district that includes Fort Stewart and Hunter, acknowledged it could have been worse.

The total reduction of 80,000 active duty soldiers across the Army represents an about 14 percent reduction, while Fort Stewart is only looking at an about 6.6 percent cut in troop size.

“If you look around at the other installations and the numbers that they’re losing — an average of 14 percent — you see that we were not singled out,” Kingston said. “Obviously, Fort Stewart is taking some cuts where, say, (other Georgia posts Fort) Benning and (Fort) Gordon aren’t, but there is the recognition that we’re a very viable and important installation that is going to continue to contribute to the mission in the future.”

By 2019, Fort Stewart, the most expansive military installation east of the Mississippi River, is expected to house about 19,700 troops — significantly more than the 15,100 stationed there at the beginning of 2001 — and retain its role as the primary power projection platform on the East Coast.

Like Kingston, Hinesville Mayor Jim Thomas acknowledged the cuts could have been more painful.

“We don’t want to lose any soldiers, but if we do it won’t be as bad as we thought,” Thomas said.

However, the mayor said the Army in some respects still owes payback to communities whose economies are tied to Fort Stewart after it ditched plans announced in 2007 that an additional brigade would be assigned to the installation.

Thomas estimated taxpayers and private businesses in Hinesville spent $450 million on new construction and improvements to prepare for that influx of troops.

“We shouldn’t lose anyone,” said Thomas, who suspects the Army’s plans might change once Congress gets a chance to weigh in. “Normally what the Army says is not the last word. It’s often political.”

Odierno, the Army’s top general, said the decisions to be implemented in the coming years are the result of extensive studies and direct conversations with community members living in areas near 30 Army installations across the country. Ultimately, it was decided each domestic installation that housed more than two brigade combat teams would lose one. Another ground combat brigade will likely be eliminated sometime in the future, but that decision has not been made, Odierno said.

“We conducted an extensive analysis that included 500 hours of simulated combat in 34 separate scenarios and extensive interviews with our commanders,” the general said. “We also conducted a programmatic environmental assessment that looked at both the environmental and socioeconomic impacts of these reductions.”

Of course the cuts could be deeper if the automatic spending cuts known as sequestration continue into 2014, Odierno said.

“I want to be clear that we are taking (Tuesday’s) actions as the result of the Budget Control Act of 2011,” he said. “This end strength of force structure reduction pre-dates sequestration. So, as sequestration moves on there will be a requirement potentially to take more force structure out of the Army.”

Odierno said that could mean the loss of up to 100,000 additional soldiers across the service.

Georgia’s U.S. Sens. Saxby Chambliss and Johnny Isakson in a combined statement released Tuesday said they are working to divert the continuation of sequestration.

“I remain focused on working with my colleagues in the Senate to prevent any additional cuts from sequestration,” said Chambliss, the vice chairman of the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and a senior member of the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee.

“In addition to the devastating local and national economic impacts of sequestration, further cuts would jeopardize military readiness. A properly sized, well-prepared military deters aggression, and with persistent irregular wars in the Middle East and nuclear proliferation in unstable regions, it is vital that we not irrevocably ‘hollow out’ the force.”

Meanwhile, Larson, the Fort Stewart spokesman, asked surrounding communities for their continued support.

“We are blessed to have strong neighbors here in the coastal Georgia community, and we thank you for providing comments during the public comment period for the Programmatic Environmental Assessment and at the community listening sessions,” Larson said. “We are committed to working with the coastal Georgia community in the months ahead as we implement this change.”